An Accidental Miracle
by LeonaWriter
Summary: Kiryu had run away after being revived out of depression caused by his his actions as a Dark Signer - and out of fear of what he and Carly had done together while under the influence of the Earthbound, and how she and the others would react to it. He was dragged back by Yuusei, Crow and a near-murderous Jack when it turned out that with the Crimson Dragon reviving everyone
1. Chapter 1

The end of the Signer war brought with it a sense of peace - and also a feeling of having come to the end of one age and out into the birth of another. Things were new, were going to be different from now on, and who could blame anyone for looking around with new eyes?

The work on the bridge started almost immediately, and it turned out that Director Godwin had specified for it to be so before his death, meaning that no one could countermand the order, one which included that Satellite itself was to be fully refurbished.

It would, however, take time. And in that time, people like Yuusei, like Crow and the others like them, would have nowhere to stay while the work was going on. It was collateral damage that they were more than willing to put up with however, since in exchange, it was building a brighter, better future every step of the way.

When it came to personal issues, things weren't so clear cut.

Jack found himself staying in the penthouse for only until he could find somewhere else to stay, or at least that was what Mikage told him, which was insult added to injury after Carly's loss of memory, and the way she'd started acting strangely around him. Compared to normal. Although whatever 'normal' was given that they'd only known each other for such a short time, he was starting to wonder.

She didn't fawn all over him like she used to. Oh, she did, but not quite so... much. As though something had happened.

It shouldn't have hurt him, but it did.

She seemed happy enough, though, so he didn't push, and ignored anyone who said that there might be something wrong with _him_.

Yuusei and Crow were recommended to someone Martha knew, who lived in Neo Domino and might let them live with her for at least a while, so he did have that option at least - and was forced to take it some time later, creating a bad tempered Jack from the fact that there was nowhere more upmarket that would take the former King of riding duels.

Crow was less than happy about the situation either, seen as Jack wouldn't pay his way, but Yuusei just smiled, happy to see his two friends and brothers back together again.

All in all, things had begun to settle down, and into a routine of sorts, day by day dealings becoming ones they were used to as opposed to ones where they continually had to remind themselves that _this was normal now_, and that they weren't going to be told that they weren't welcome, to go back to where they came from... regardless that many still seemed to want to think that way. The masses were being swayed. Satellites were being accepted.

It was a slow road, but it was one they were taking. Eventually, they'd get there. And there would be no separation any more, and a marker would just be another form of tattoo, something the future generation would only hear about in history books, and stories from their grandparents.

And then, they began to notice Carly's strange behaviour on a more regular basis, and it definitely _was_ strange this time.

The first time it was clearly apparent was when she'd suddenly rushed inside, and suddenly started throwing up. At first they'd thought it was food poisoning - it was possible - but nothing came up as having possibly caused such a reaction, and the nausea faded away soon enough, leaving her feeling just fine only a short time afterwards.

They put it to the back of their minds, worried but generally sure that everything was all right, that things would work out.

Only to be caught out when it happened again, and the next day.

It was when she started to visibly enjoy something Jack later assured Yuusei that she'd _never_ liked before, she'd _even said_ that she hated the food, that Yuusei, and then Crow when he was told, began to have their suspicions.

Jack, of course, was in denial. How could he not be? Nothing was wrong. _Nothing._ She was just unwell for a while, and she'd be fine in a few weeks. That was all.

Yuusei watched him slam the door to the garage yet again, and sighed, noting that Aki looked just as worried as he felt.

"He knows there's something wrong," he said, once the echoes had dissipated. Crow was out on a delivery and wouldn't be back for at least another hour. Aki herself had yet to hear back from the Duel Academy, even though he was sure that she was going to be let in with flying colours at the top of her grade. He just believed it of her. "I'm sure. He just won't admit it."

She nodded back at him nervously.

"But when Carly herself doesn't seem to know what's wrong, or remember anything much from back then... Jack's _sure_ that nothing happened between them, or right before... then how can we know what happened to her during _that_ time? How do we even know it really is... ah... I mean..."

She trailed off, blushing slightly and looking away. Yuusei fixed her with a sympathetic yet matter-of-fact, apologetic look.

"It is," he sighed. "That or... I don't know what else it could be. Crow and I - and Jack - we know the signs. Martha told us what to look out for if we ever found someone in trouble like that. In Satellite..." he trailed off for a moment, caught up in the memory, and Aki was left remembering just how different life used to be for them, how that would have been something that could have happened, all the time... "We saw it happen. Only two times. Maybe three... I can't speak for Crow, but I don't think there's anything else it _could_ be."

"And she doesn't even _realise_," she said, fists clenching - half in anger, half in horror.

Yuusei shook his head.

"Probably not."

"Don't you think you should _tell_ her? Yuusei! She has a right to know!"

"You think we haven't thought of that?" He leaned back against the wall, one hand tapping frustratedly against the wrench in his other. "And what would we say? She'd panic. The last thing any of us want is to have her scared and making things worse for herself."

"Then what _do_ we do. _Tell me_, Yuusei. Please."

The tapping slowed.

"We figure out what happened before she has a chance to start assuming the worst. She's a reporter... and a good one. She she'd try to investigate into the matter herself, and get worked up, stressed... The reason she's in this state might be the reason why she lost her memories of that time, and rediscovering it herself would do more harm than good."

Aki found herself nodding slowly. She could understand the need for caution when there were triggers of _that_ sort involved; her duel against Misty had left her with the inescapable knowledge that, should she hear those words again...

That was it.

"Misty."

"Ah?"

"Misty, Yuusei! Carly knew Misty when she was with the Dark Signers, and they're still in touch! Maybe-"

"She knows something?"

"Mm!"

Yuusei smiled, and watched as Aki quickly took out her mobile, scrolling down her - admittedly short - list of contacts before finding the woman's name, hesitating her finger above the 'call' button before closing her eyes and going for it, before she could lose her determination.

Then, the phone was ringing. Too late to back out now.

"Ah- Misty-san. I'm doing well. ... Actually, Yuusei and I were wondering if we could meet with you... ah. That's fine. No, no... everything's fine. Thank you."

Yuusei sent her a questioning look as soon as she took the phone away from her ear and cut off the call.

"She's got enough time in between meetings to have us over next week. Not much, but it should be enough to talk things over, right?"

Yuusei gave her a nod, only hoping that it would be.

Another week of uncertainty, then. And they wouldn't even know if Misty herself knew anything useful until they talked.

All they could do was to continue acting normally, and as though nothing was wrong. And hope, above all, that somehow - one way or another - this wouldn't turn out for the worst.

...

The week passed fitfully. Jack had gone from sheer, outright denial and through into an odd - and rather frightening at times - mixture of anger and depressive acceptance.

It'd been when he'd finally brought the matter up, and asked when they should say something to _Carly_, that Yuusei explained his own reasoning... and that he and Aki were going to try and get some answers themselves.

Jack had then gone uncharacteristically quiet.

"Whoever he was," he said almost under his breath, fist clenched tight, "when we find out, I'm going to _kill_ him."

Yuusei and Crow were used to threats being flung - and they couldn't help but feel the same way - but it was the blunt, expectant way that Jack said it that put them on edge. And right now, not knowing anything, they weren't sure if they'd end up able to _stop_ him from doing something they all regretted.

Overall, he and Aki arrived at Misty's apartment building in a nervous state of mind. They told the receptionist their names, and the woman told them that Misty was waiting for them, allowing them to pass and giving them the directions to her room.

Aki was the one who knocked once they arrived, Yuusei hanging back, leaning against the opposite wall until the door opened and they were told to come in.

He caught her frowning slightly right before telling them to sit, but the next moment there was a smile back on her face, and she was turning away, walking with flowing movements into a side room. A few moments later she came back with tea.

"You're here about Carly, aren't you."

It wasn't even a question. She simply 'knew'.

"How...?"

"Perhaps I should have mentioned that I can read faces the way that our Carly can cards; some of the clarity is gone," she said, placing loose strand of hair back into place, "but overall, it remains. Not that I should have to. Yet you came to me for answers, so I can only assume that you require information of a time in her life very few are privy to."

Aki looked away slightly, down at her tea as it cooled enough to drink, as Yuusei nodded, somewhat relieved that he didn't have to explain that much.

"We were wondering if you could help us figure out if there was anyone she could have been... close to, during that time."

Misty sighed, picking up her own teacup as she pondered the matter, eyes closed as she remembered.

"I have to admit that I still had many of my own duties to attend to, back then. I was one of the few with a job, who the outside world would not see as the walking dead if I went into public. Therefore, I was not able to be with her as much as would help you right now."

"If there's anything you know, Misty-san. Anything at all," Aki pleaded, causing Misty's eyes to narrow.

"This is more than just worry over changed feelings. Is it not?" She took another sip, mulling the thought over and watching their faces, before putting her cup down still half full. "What time I did have to spare, I did spend with Carly. When she was available to spend it with, after the first day of her staying with us."

"Ah... what do you mean by that? 'Available'...?"

"Exactly as it sounds. For several hours a day, she would be gone. Perhaps Rudger would have known where to if he had come back with the rest of us, but as it is..."

"Rudger?" Yuusei asked, taken aback.

"She approached him for a favour. I believe that at first it was declined, but later taken up. Given what I know of her now, I have my suspicions as to what it was."

"Which are?"

"Carly does not drive a motorbike. Or, in fact, a D-Wheel. Not to my knowledge before she came to us, and not to my knowledge _after_. The only answer could be that makes sense, is that she was taught during that time, and has forgotten what she learned. And with that in mind, if you would forgive my saying so, there was only _one_ person qualified to do so. Only one person in all of the Dark Signers who had been with us long enough, had the motivation, and the means to teach. And he is not in such a position currently to be questioned on the matter."

Aki blinked, not really knowing who Misty was referring to, but Yuusei-

Clenched his fist tightly enough that it hurt in an effort not to break something that belonged to their host, eyes shut but unable to keep back the memories. The understanding of what Misty had been trying to tell them.

"Yuusei... you know who it is that I mean."

_Kiryu_.

He nodded, finding himself unable to speak the words that would make it real, make it more than a mere 'suspicion'.

_How?_ How could Kiryu have... the answer, of course, was obvious. Carly liked Jack, and Kiryu had hated all of them, all of the ones who'd been in his old team... Who he'd been convinced had betrayed him.

But still. To go _this _far?

"Yuusei..." Breathe. He couldn't think clearly if he was only focusing on the past. He had to think about the present, and the future. Or they wouldn't be able to help Carly. "Misty-san," Aki was saying, "I'm sorry, but... who _was_ it...?"

Misty glanced over at Yuusei, now staring woodenly at his tea, which was going cold, and sighed.

"Kiryu Kyousuke was the Dark Signer of the Giant," she said carefully. "My opinions of him at the time were that he was an ambitious yet impatient and impulsive young man with a blatant disregard for authority figures." Yuusei fought to bite back a snort, and failed, the sound coming out as almost a laugh - it was certainly an apt description of Kiryu.

Misty looked at him again, but he nodded at her to continue.

"We... none of us tended to get along all of the time. Our group was formed not by bonds, but by shared goals, and not all of them met eye to eye. Kiryu-san often rankled at having to answer to Rudger-san especially. But... in the time before Director Godwin gathering you all together, things were far more relaxed. If you could call such an existence so."

"Ah-?"

He'd never thought of it. That time... a limbo, as it were, a stasis of what must have been between dying and having their plans come to fruition - or so they hoped.

"The Earthbound," Misty carried on, "controlled our thoughts and emotions and leaned them towards revenge. But as I am sure you are aware, not even the least sane mind can think of one thing so constantly. Thus, we created, despite ourselves, safe areas. For me, it was my work. For Kiryu-san himself, I believe it was racing, and D-Wheels... although I fear that once she arrived, Carly as well."

"Misty-san... that..."

"Doesn't sound healthy," Yuusei said, finishing Aki's train of thought and speaking properly for the first time since a potential truth had been outed.

"We weren't healthy people," Misty said bluntly. "And I have told you all that I know. Now, perhaps you might tell me something in return. Why the sudden interest in Carly's time as a Dark Signer? Surely any pain caused would heal in time, if left be."

Yuusei and Aki shared a look, and in the end it was Aki who spoke.

"That isn't possible, no matter how much we wish it could be. Carly... she's been having morning sickness. And odd cravings. It's not been long, but..."

Just over a month, in fact. Long enough.

Misty carefully put her cup down, and for the first time, Yuusei thought he saw something other than the pristine self-composure that they'd become used to from her.

"You haven't told her."

Her voice was steady, but distant, as though she was dealing with the news in her own way and would allow her true reactions out later, once they were gone.

"Ah-"

"You should. Soon."

"Ah- aa... We will. We just needed-"

"I understand," she said, standing, and they took that as their cue that it was time to leave. "But she also needs to know."

He didn't bother arguing against that when he knew it well enough himself.

...

"Ah- _KIRYU?!"_

"Jack, keep your voice down!"

"Hn! It's hardly as though anyone's around to hear - and I don't care!"

Crow buried his face in his hand, shaking his head.

"Ah, Jack..."

It was a few days after Yuusei and Aki's meeting with Misty, and he, Jack and Crow were in the garage. Thankfully, it was the middle of the day and there weren't many people, but this still wasn't something he felt should be shouted about so that anyone passing by could hear them.

"Yuusei. You're _sure_?"

He shook his head.

"We won't know for certain until we either have proof somehow, or if we could talk to him." That bearing in mind how unlikely it was that Carly _herself_ would regain the relevant memories - that said, none of them were entirely sure if that would even be healthy. "But it's possible."

_"Rgh-!"_

Jack's fist hit the wall, making the other two flinch, but his tears weren't from the self-induced pain, but the helplessness, the-

"That's not gonna help anything, Jack," Crow said from across the room. "Just give you a sore fist."

"Then what _will?"_

Crow sighed. "Dunno. But we gotta figure it out - and _quick_. But... if it _was_ Kiryu, then how're we gonna _reach_him?"

"What? To _kill_ him, you mean? Because that's all I feel like I'd want to do with him-"

"He was a Dark Signer," Yuusei said, cutting between the budding argument before they'd end up with raised voices and coming to blows. "Jack... you saw what it was like, how different they were from when they were normal. Kiryu... Carly... Godwin... all of them. Would you place any of them fully responsible for what they did while they were under the Earthbound's influence?"

"You're saying that she might have..." Jack began with a low, threatening growl.

"I'm not saying anything. But if she had, then what would you do?"

Jack stared at Yuusei for a long moment, but then looked away.

"I still want him dead for this. Whoever it was."

Yuusei sighed, supposing that that was the best they were going to get, when the door leading out to the street began to open. At first he thought it was Zora, having come back and somehow heard them arguing over something strange, but when the familiar head poked her way in, he realised that it was worse than that. And yet at the same time, better.

"Ah... is this a good time? I could come back later..."

"C-_Carly!_"

"No," Yuusei said with a shake of his head, causing Jack and Crow to stare at him in thinly disguised disbelief. "We were talking about an old friend," he began.

"Eh? Really? It sounds like you had a big falling out." She came fully in through the door and closed it behind her, and came down the steps. She was dressed differently to what they usually saw her in, looser, although they didn't think she looked any different. Yet. It might just have been a coincidence, but they were starting to lose faith in coincidences.

"Mn. You could say that. What brings you here?"

"Ahaha, I was just passing through - biiiig scoop, but I got there and wrote it all up, so all I need to do now is get back and check it over before I send it off! Hee~"

"Ah, that's good."

And it was good, seeing her enjoy what she did for a living, even if she was rushed off her feet by stories and scoops - or the need of - most of the time.

"So... who was it? That friend?" She must have noticed Jack's expression darken, because she backed away, laughing and waving her hands in surrender. "Ah, never mind, never mind!"

"Name's Kiryu," Crow put in, catching what Yuusei's game was, and not looking over at any of them to see a reaction to the name. "Haven't seen him since last month."

"Eh? Who? Ah... you think I should _know_ this person?"

With the timing the way it was, it wasn't that much of a leap for anyone's intuition. But her reaction... there went one idea. No reaction at all to his name, and although Yuusei and Crow were relieved that it likely wasn't related to something _traumatic_ in her locked away memories, the very idea of what other things it could mean made Jack grind his teeth.

"Well, Misty said the two of you knew each other back then," Yuusei explained.

"Ahaha, well, I don't see how I'd be able to help finding him now, whoever he is! I don't remember enough to know what someone with that name _looked_ like!" She said, laughing.

"Ah, Carly..." Jack said, one of the first things he'd said since she'd come in. "That... wasn't all."

It was also the most downcast and serious they'd seen him for a while. The anger was still there, sure - but it wasn't the most important thing right now.

"Eh? What then?"

"Have you been feeling 'off' recently?"

The question was put forward at high speed, Jack's expression more like that of a child not wanting to know the answer but knowing he had to _ask_,whether he liked it or not, even though he knew it was going to hurt afterwards either way.

He wasn't far wrong, either.

"Ah, I- what sort of question's that? I'm fine! And I, I've been fine-"

"Carly..."

"Jack, _I'm fine!"_

She stepped away from him and Jack recoiled as though struck, at which she stopped, breathing heavily.

"I'm _fine_, I've just caught a bug, probably in the food, haha, I should be more careful! I'm fine. I just. I just..."

"Carly, it's _okay_."

"But I _hate eel!"_ she shouted out, tears now falling from her eyes as she allowed Jack to pull her into a tight hold, making the rest of her words muffled through his chest. "And last week I... but... _What's wrong with_ _me_?"

The last was said so quietly that only Jack was able to hear her at all, but both of the others could see that he was fighting to keep himself under control, to not break down himself, not for pride, but for Carly herself, who needed him to be strong right now.

"It's gonna be okay, yeah?" Crow said awkwardly, hoping to comfort and reassure her that it wasn't just Jack on her side. "Nothing's- it might be nothing's _wrong_, it's just-"

"How can nothing be _wrong_? I-" A look of slowly dawning horror came across her, and she let go of Jack, instead holding herself with her arms. "You were talking about that person and that time I _can't remember_- no. That _can't_ be what you're thinking," she reiterated, shaking her head. "You, you don't know!"

"_If_ it was true," Yuusei said slowly, carefully, "then it'd be up to you what you did next."

Emphasise the 'if', make it hypothetical, and numb the pain with theory and the allowance of temporary denial instead of cold, hard facts.

"Eh? Wh- what do you..."

"You don't remember. You wouldn't owe anyone anything, and you wouldn't even if you could. It'd be _your choice_."

Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she realised what he meant, and she shook here head wildly.

"I _don't know!_ I don't _know_ what I want!"

"Carly-!"

She was running for the door, and as soon as he realised that it would be a bad idea for Jack to go after her, Yuusei and Crow had to hold him back from doing that very thing.

"Let her go," Crow said in a rare instance of sounding entirely serious, completely and utterly sincere. "She needs time, yea? Something like that..."

Really, who could blame her for running?

...

Carly didn't remember running home, let alone catching the bus because she knew that she was far too worked up to drive right now.

All she knew for certain, as she lay curled up in her bed with the covers drawn around her and her Jack bear in her arms, was that she was lost, confused, and she'd hurt her friends by running away from them - run away from _Jack_.

Who'd only been trying to help.

She sniffed again, and continued to sob, not quite having dried up all of her tears.

She'd _noticed_ it, how could she say she hadn't _noticed_ it, you can't not notice being sick and... all the rest.

But putting it all together had taken longer. She didn't remember. _Any_ of it, from going to sleep that one night with Jack having taken over her own room for the night (sometimes, she liked remembering it, and it was almost as though there was someone else in the room with her, keeping her company) to waking up well over a week later, confused and not understanding why it was suddenly morning, or how she'd moved across town, or why Jack was reacting to her as though she'd _died_ or something.

She'd had no reason to think something might be up. She still liked Jack (didn't she?) and Jack hadn't said anything, wasn't acting odd in some weird way around her, so _nothing_ could have happened.

Because she wouldn't have cheated on Jack.

Except, apparently, something _had_ happened. She _had_ gone behind Jack's back, and she _couldn't even remember-_

She didn't even know whose it was.

The realisation, coming into her head with clarity this time rather than in a mix of overwrought emotions, caused her to break down in tears yet again. What kind of person _was_ she back then, to do such a thing?

_Kiryu_, she remembered Yuusei say. _Haven't seen him since last month._

Just a little over that, really, but hey - who was counting? But if that was it...

She threw herself out of bed, hair messed up and glasses askew but she didn't care, skidding into her living room and turning the computer on, making sure to turn the video phone _off_ - she didn't want to be disturbed, and especially not by her editor right now while she was dressed like this - while she pulled up a search.

Kiryu... Kiryu... there were a surprising amount of them. None of whom she felt like she should know. She stuck her tongue in her cheek, adding in the parameter that he was 'from Satellite' - an assumption based on the idea that he was an _old_ friend of Yuusei and the others. If they'd all known him, then that would've been back then, when they were all...

Results! And... she swallowed. The first article was on the Security database, for an angry looking young man with a marker running all the way down the right side of his face. She clicked on that one first, bringing it into a new window.

_Kiryu Kyousuke_, the public part of the file read. _Markered for assault on a Security patrolman. Deceased during incarceration._

And... that was it. Pretty much the entire file. If she'd been looking for a story, then she'd have been incredibly disappointed, putting it down as an open and closed case, or acting on a gut feeling - the same one she was having right now - that this was hardly the entire story.

She shut the search down, and then the computer, for some reason not wanting to look any further, or at the angry, accusing face of someone who was _supposed_ to be long dead.

She made her way back into her room and flopped listlessly onto her bed. She... she still didn't know what to _do_.

One of her hands had found its way to her deck case, sitting on her bedside table, and she smiled - of course! The fairies would tell her! Hah~ ! That couldn't go wrong...

_Apart from that one time when they predicted you were going to die, _a worried voice said in the back of her mind, but she paid it no heed. Out came the cards, and fanned out in front of her face-down in one hand, while the other hovered above them.

"And today the fortune is - draw!"

She picked the card third on the left. Took it out.

_"Super pinch?!"_

She let herself drop back onto the pillows.

_You may gain an edge over the competition. Cheer up!_

But... how was she supposed to cheer up when this person was supposedly such big trouble? That fortune only made everything _worse_...

...

It was Duel Time in Crashtown, and Kiryu Kyousuke was in big trouble.

Or at least, he would be if he didn't win the duel. Anyone who lost was immediately sent to the mines and collared, and out of the two groups attempting to control the small mining town, Ramon's was the lesser of the two evils.

Ah, there it was. A weakness. One face-down next, and he'd exploited it easily, and the opponent was taken away by horse and cart to his doom.

Kiryu himself merely turned his back on the town, and headed back to where he'd parked his bike before riding it out to the cliffs.

It wasn't a Harley, like the rest of Ramon's group rode. They'd offered him one, at first, just to fit in. But he'd refused, despite the odd looks it gained.

The Giganto-L was, after all, a D-Wheel in a town full of people who'd probably only heard of them, or seen them on TV at best. That, and its odd design contrasted strangely with his presence as he made it known there, and the way he dressed.

It was the one thing he'd bothered to keep from that dark period in his life, the only thing he'd _wanted_ to keep, other than a few select memories.

The rest could go to hell.

He remembered duelling Yuusei, accusing him of betrayal, the _souls, _so many _people_, all _dead, _just because of his own damn vendetta-

He wished he could forget it. Just be left with a confusion, as though he'd never done any of it. But even then, he wouldn't be _innocent_.

But he also remembered teaching her, and correcting her, and duelling her and getting frustrated and proud and calm - for the first time since he'd become a Dark Signer, he'd actually been _happy_, been _calm_ - and his hands on her back, steadying her, hands on her-

He cut the memories off with a choke, torn between wanting to forget because then it wouldn't _hurt _so damn much, and keeping a hold on them like precious gems, because the last he'd heard of Carly before hitting the road knowing that should Jack find out he'd be dead three times over, was that she'd forgotten. Everything.

And if he forgot as well, then who would be left to know that anything good had come out of that time at all? No one would know. It'd just get lost, something that didn't matter any more... and he didn't want it to not matter.

He wasn't sure if that made him a bad person or not, but weighing up his crimes against the good things he'd taken, stolen, didn't balance out in his head.

"Ah-! Kiryu-niichan!"

He sighed. West, again.

"How many times do I have to tell you - I'm not someone you should get involved with, kid."

"But, Kiryu-niichan, you had that _look_ on your face again."

Kiryu sighed, and turned to look at the young boy.

"What look."

"The. The one like tou-san wore sometimes." His confusion must have shown, because West carried on. "When he'd think about kaa-san!"

"...Ah."

Nico and West's mother had died long before they'd arrived here. And their father had been sent to the mines the day he'd arrived. The man's kids had offered Kiryu to stay with them instead, but he'd refused, only allowing them to give them some of their father's old clothes, but he still came to visit every so often.

"So... there's a girl you like? Is she... is she _dead_?"

He jerked involuntarily, but then got himself under control again, attempting to disguise the movement with a shrug.

"She might as well be. To me."

"Hah... that's bad..."

Kiryu sighed, fingering his harmonica.

"It's getting dark. You should be getting back to your sister."

West nodded reluctantly.

"Ah, right. You'll be okay, though?"

Kiryu would have sent an amused, wry smile over the boy's way if he'd had the emotional energy to do so, but instead he merely nodded, and put the harmonica to his lips again, playing a bittersweet melody of regret.

...

AN: And there we have the first - and it might be the longest, I have _no idea_ how long or short the next chapters will be - of this story.

Remember back at the beginning, where Yuusei, Aki and Crow were assuming that Carly may have been _assaulted_? Yes, if you hadn't caught on back then, that _is_ what they were - and still are - considering as a possibility. As you can see from the last section with Kiryu, that _was not the case_. If it were, I'd probably have 'rape' as one of my warnings. Which I don't.

As to Yuusei being pro-choice? One of my headcanons is that at least once, he, Jack, Crow, even Kiryu way back before the paranoia kicked in, they all had to help out someone in need because Satellite's a dangerous place for women and girls, especially in the BAD area I'd have to assume, and just because it's never mentioned (to my recollection) in the series, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Also, Martha drilled it into them - 'Don't do the deed if you're not willing to take responsibility!'. Satellite being Satellite, it's _far less likely to have protection just readily available._ Cultural context matters. At least, these are the reasons/backstory I felt like I needed to point out.


	2. Chapter 2

_He'd noticed her arrive - it was pretty damn hard not to, when there was one of Misty's helicopters landing nearby and making a racket. He'd come out from going over his deck again to see what the fuss was all about, and seen her - black hair, orange markings on the robes, nice legs, but clearly upset - coming out, followed closely behind by Misty herself, and then Demak, who was the only one of the three who actually knew how to pilot the thing._

_Misty spent some time talking with her once they were inside, and stayed with her until she had to excuse herself, pleaing other commitments._

_Lucky woman. She could lead a double 'life'. Unlike the rest of them._

_After that, he didn't see her again for hours, well into the next day, and he assumed that she'd locked herself in her room or something stupid like that. Not that he cared, of course - he didn't know what her vendetta was, but he doubted it had anything to do with _him_, or was his business._

_That is, until he noticed her walking purposefully through the corridors towards the main meeting area, where he knew that Rudger was hidden away, brooding. He followed her - partly out of sheer boredom - careful to stay far enough back that he wouldn't be seen or heard, although with her in that kind of mood who knew if she'd notice?_

_"Rudger-san! Rudger-san, I- I want to ask a favour!"_

_Rudger looked up from the candlestick's flames. Apparently - or so he'd been told - each one represented one of their lives. He wasn't sure whether to believe such superstitious rubbish, but then again, he was the walking dead._

_"Go on."_

_The Hummingbird girl blushed, and then steeled herself, blurting out her request._

_"I want to be able to learn how to ride a D-Wheel! I know, I know there isn't much time left, but... if I could just do that, I could duel him properly!"_

_"You are right," Rudger said flatly. For a moment, her hopes seemed to be raised, but then the man continued. "We do not have the time."_

_"Ahhh-! But Rudger-san, if I could just- just get good enough for one duel!"_

_"One duel is all you will have opportunity for, and all that will be required of you. And we have no one among us able to give up their time, with the relevant skills. We are all rushed, Carly Nagisa."_

_From his place in the shadows, Kiryu Kyousuke rolled his eyes - annoying, but true. He was the only one who rode a D-Wheel on their side, and he was busy getting himself ready for his duel against Yuusei - and he knew that even with the fear of Ccapac Apu in his old 'friend', it wouldn't be easy._

_"But-"_

_She was just going to keep arguing, then? Hah. Then he'd head off, back to practice. No use wasting time or breath._

_"-it would't be right to not defeat Jack in a riding duel!"_

_He was stopped in his tracks._

_Jack? Jack Atlas? _That_ Jack Atlas?_

_Well. Things had just become a lot more interesting, hadn't they? He stepped out from the shadows, a smirk playing about on his face at the thought of what he was about to do._

_"Oi, Rudger. I really hear you say 'no one willing'?" Rudger's eyes narrowed at his presence, and the implication of his words. "Because if it's about beating Jack Atlas at his own game... then I'm all for it!"_

_"You would take the time out of your own schedule to train her?"_

_He shrugged._

_"Beats sitting around all day. And if it doesn't get her anywhere-"_

_"H-hey! I can learn!"_

_"-then we won't have lost anything, will we?" he ended, noting her protests with amusement._

_Rudger fixed him with a level stare._

_"In which case, you had better hope that she is at an acceptable standard by the time we are ready to make our final move. I leave it in your hands, Kiryu Kyousuke."_

_And with that, the man stood, and left the room, leaving the two alone together. Carly half pouting at the percieved insults, half excited and hopeful due to knowing that she would be getting what she had wanted._

_"Misty's getting you a bike, isn't she?" _

_Carly nodded. _

_"Ah- mn. She said it's going to be here in just a couple of days, but-"_

_"First lesson, we'll be using mine, then," he said, heading back out and leading her to the garage where he kept his D-Wheel, not even bothering to check if she was following. "But if you damage it, I kill you, got it?"_

_"Got it!"_

_Hah! She might be crazy for wanting to go all out on Jack Atlas and still needing lessons on how to ride, but he'd give her this - the girl had _guts_._

_"First things first. One, you gotta learn to focus. You can ride all you like angry when you've got it down, but before then? Everything is the bike, and the road. Nothing else."_

_"Right."_

_"You don't get it. Whatever the Hummingbird brought you back for? Whever I'm teaching you... You FORGET IT."_

_"But-"_

_"No buts. Forget it or get out."_

_She stayed there as they stood outside the doors, pinning him with a fierce glare. He wasn't sure whether it was out of defiance or understanding._

_"I'm going to duel Jack. No matter what. And it isn't revenge, I love hi-"_

_He raised his eyebows at her, the expression cutting her off. _

_"Cute." He opened the door, and brought out the Giganto-L, pushing it by the handlebars. "And you're damn lucky, you know that?"_

_"H-huh?!"_

_"Forget it."_

...

Carly woke up to a bout of nausea with a now undeniable cause, and later found that she had several missed calls.

_"Carly? Are you all right? You left so fast yesterday, you worried m- us..."_ Jack. She probably _should_ make sure they knew she was all right if he was the one calling.

_"OI, CARLY! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? SOMETHING BIG WAS HAPPENING OVER IN SATELLITE JUST AN HOUR AGO AND..." _Her editor.

_"Dear potential customer of-!"_

_"Ah, Carly~ You said we'd meet up this week-"_

_"CARLY IF YOU DON'T PICK THE DAMN PHONE UP-"_ Her editor again.

What with everything that was going on, she couldn't, for once, bring herself to care just yet. She'd moved her cards onto her bedside table last night before rolling over and going to sleep, but to be honest, she felt like a mess.

A fact that hadn't changed half an hour later, coming out of the shower.

It wasn't just the morning sickness, though. Of course, knowing it was _that_ didn't make it any better, but weirdly enough it numbed the terror of _not_ knowing as well, so they sort of cancelled each other out.

It was knowing how it could have happend at all.

Jack... how could she have done that? Such a short amount of time, just a _week _or more gone from her life, and she couldn't have forgotten changing so much, could she?

Apparently so. No matter how strange it seemed.

It wasn't as though she hadn't tried asking Jack what she'd been like - reporter's interest, after all, and if she could get a first hand scoop... well, that'd be all the more for her, then - and he'd told her that she'd acted different, almost like a different person. At the time she'd brushed it off with a shiver and a few jokes about how scary she must've been to take the sting away, but now... now...

She finished getting dressed, checked over her emails and messages again, and headed out of the door.

...

Ushio sighed, chin resting in his hand as he gave thought to Yuusei's request.

They hadn't lost contact, after the events of the Signer War. If anything, the fact that so few people truly knew and understood what had happened during those weeks had brought the man closer to the group, along with his new partner - he'd apparently been promoted in the new order of things when it had become clear that Rex Godwin, the old Director, was both no longer around and that most departments would need some fine tuning in any case. In light of how he'd handled events during mass panic and in the time afterwards, Ushio had been the clear choice.

Right now however, Yuusei was asking for a rather hefty favour.

"You want me to track that person down, huh? D'you have any idea how difficult that'd be?"

"I know that he vanished without any word to us as to where he'd be going. And that his D-Wheel was never found. There must be some way."

Ushio shook his head.

"Sure, it can't be easy hiding something like _that_," he said, remembering what he'd seen, "but even then. He could be _anywhere_. And a search would just stretch what resources we've got after everything back then. You know that."

"Aa. I do. And if it wasn't that important, I wouldn't be asking."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that... you know, you could just wait for a while. He's probably gonna come back at some point, or send a message along somehow..."

He trailed off as Yuusei shook his head.

"He didn't say anything to any of us, and you didn't _see_ him back then... if he was going to send word by now, he would have. And we don't have time for him to decide. There's a more important matter that can't wait."

"More important... oi, oi, what're you talking about-?"

Yuusei sighed, and leaned back against the wall of the Security building, eyes closed against the sunlight.

"It's not my place to say, for now. Even if this wasn't going on... I'd still want to find him. This just makes it more..."

"Hn. Well, I'll see what I can do. Just don't get your hopes up, got it?"

Yuusei nodded, letting out a breath he hadn't realised that he was holding in.

"That's all I ask. Thank you."

"Ha... I'd ask what you've gotten yourself mixed up in this time, but since you said it's not any of your business to say I don't think I'd get any answers."

"I can say that it isn't exactly a matter of being 'mixed up in' anything," he said with half a smile. "If anything," he shook his head. "I'll let you know as soon as I can tell you any more."

"Ah- yeah. That'd be useful if you could," Ushio muttered as Yuusei left, wondering how he was going to find a man twice dead, likely locked out of the Security database for that very reason, and...

Well, it'd be nothing if not a _challenge_.

...

She found herself counting the days.

She'd bought a paper calendar - usually she was fine with using the one on her computer, but... she stuck her tongue in her cheek as she leafed through the months to find 'That Week', as she'd begun to call it in her mind. The week she hadn't ever been able to remember, for one reason or another.

It hit hard like a punch to the gut that it had already been well over a month. Nearly a month and a half.

She hadn't made any vocal descision yet, to the others. She'd skirted the topic, tried to get to easier subjects, things that she could deal with. But then she'd started to see babies everywhere, mothers with their children and music box songs played wherever her ear could catch them. Her hand would find her stomach, and she'd hurry away from wherever it was, breath quickening.

Yuusei, Crow, even _Jack_ - they were fine with the idea that she'd just... just get _rid_ of it, just because she didn't know where it had come from. Because maybe she wasn't ready yet. Because why should she... why...

A month and a half, and she still evaded their eyes. Laughed it off.

But when she was at home, she'd take out the calendar, and black out another day.

Time was running out for her to make any decision other than one - and in the end, she started wondering. What if she didn't _want_ to? What if she didn't want to care, what had happened? Who the father was?

It wasn't its fault, after all. And if she couldn't remember, then it wasn't hers either, really, even though that one sounded false even when she said it alone, in her room. Something about this all whispered _it IS your fault_ whenever she wanted to find somewhere to put the blame. Whenever she guiltily wondered, hurting, why she didn't feel like something was being taken from her when Jack looked at someone else, even when she knew he wasn't interested.

It had somehow moved from 'how' she could have done such a thing, to 'when'.

'When' had she fallen _out_ of love?

She still loved him. How could she not? He was _Jack_. But she wasn't _in_ love with him, the way she had been, and it had taken her so long to realise. Because she hadn't wanted to face up to it, to think that she could have somehow moved on from what she'd thought was so solid.

They had started to talk amongst themselves, every so often. Perhaps they knew that she'd noticed. But despite being a reporter, and a _good_ one - she was doing just fine even now once she'd got back into things! - she hesitated to ask, at first.

What if they were talking about her?

The thought was enough to keep her fidgeting around the question for another week blacked out on the calendar. It was the calendar that made her ask.

They'd looked at her almost guiltily, at first. Then Jack had glared at the other two-

"You never _told_ her?!"

Of course they hadn't, Crow would put in. And Jack hadn't either.

Yuusei was the one to explain in just one sentence-

"We're trying to find Kiryu."

Jack and Crow went silent, and with that she realised why they'd been so secretive and cautious around her.

"We'd have done it anyway," Crow said awkwardly.

"And you don't have to have anything to do with him if you don't want to," Jack added darkly, as if threatening the person who wasn't even there, which admittedly made her want to laugh, it was such a _Jack_ thing to do, but-

"Ah- no!"

They stared at her, or it _felt_ like they were staring, which made her blush. Her hands found her middle again.

"I- I mean... if you're looking for him anyway, I don't mind... I'd like to meet him! Even if it's just once, I'd like to meet him!"

The silence stretched out awkwardly for a long minute, until Yuusei smiled softly, shaking his head.

"Of course. We'll tell you how things go from now on."

"Eh? You're having trouble?"

"Mm, yeah, you _could_ say that," Crow said dryly. "He only went and vanished into _thin air_. I mean, we've had a _few_ leads, but..."

"It's been difficult," Yuusei finished.

"Hm... ah, ah, I could help!"

"Aa. If you want to, feel free. It's up to you." Although the smile said that he'd appreciate it, and the fact that she wanted to help at all.

They talked about other things after that, but as she was leaving, Jack caught her hand, sending electric shivers up her arm and as she looked up at him, she realised where he was looking.

"You've... decided, haven't you," he said quietly. It was so unlike his normal brash, loud tones that it caught her off guard, but at the same time, it only seemed natural.

She looked at him, then away, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"I, I hadn't really thought about it like that." He let go, and for some reason she couldn't understand, it hurt. "I... I think so, though. You - you don't mind, do you?"

"Hn?! Why would I-? _Carly_. It wouldn't matter what I thought if this made you happy."

She found her face heating up yet again, and nodded, not trusting her voice, knowing that she'd either say something silly or not be able to speak at all.

...

Nico and West had been told stories, and when they were younger they seemed amazing, unreal.

And then they'd grown older, and realised just how real they truly were - that 'Team Satisfaction'. Understanding gave them a newer perspective... or it did to Nico. West was still too young to fully take in anything other than the fact that they must have been strong, enough to stand up to anything that was in their way, and carve their own paths out.

Then they'd travelled, after Satellite had been opened up again. They'd left the place where their mother had died, and tried to find somewhere else.

Time after time, they were turned away for one reason or another.

All of them, leaving them back on the road... until Crashtown.

Their dad had duelled each time, and told them both that he'd be strong. Strong like that Team had been. They'd cheered him on right until the last, unbelievable, match.

Then, they'd waited. For someone to come along, to find a way to get their dad out, for something to change... anything.

And then, 'he' had arrived.

Although to be more accurate, it was more like he'd simply rolled into town one day, strange D-Wheel covered in dirt and grime and mud so much that you couldn't see the paintwork underneath, and when they'd tried to help clean some of it off - it couldn't be working properly with all that, could it - the stranger had told them off with a tired voice, saying that they should let it be.

They'd let him stay in their house, that first day and night, although he didn't sleep there, only sat on the bed, staring into space like a man half dead.

They found out that he was around the same size as their father, or he could have been. The clothes - his old ones had been in awful shape, and he hadn't seemed too fond of them anyway - hung off of his now lanky frame, as though he hadn't eaten properly in weeks.

He vanished after that, only to reappear days later wearing a long black coat, apparently working for Ramon's group, the same as their father had.

The next night at sunset, he arrived at first as a silhouette against the sun, but the first thing they knew wasn't by sight, but by sound.

Something... something about that, it was familiar, even though they'd never heard it before. A song that had come from all of their hearts.

She ran up to him before he left after winning the duel. Asked him to wait, just one moment, _please _- he'd never told them his name.

Kiryu, he'd said. Kiryu Kyousuke.

It had left her staring at his back, West having to drag her back to the house.

_Kiryu... Kyousuke._

That was... the name of...

Of someone, she found out, who simply would not lose. And just like before, he was giving her and her brother something rare - _hope_.

...

_"The hell d'you think you're doing? Have you got feathers in your brain or something?!"_

_"Ah- ah, I- I just-"_

_Kiryu sighed, dragging a hand through his hair._

_"Yeesh... I know you said you wanted to learn, but you never said how much you actually didn't know..."_

_"Hey! I can learn! I can! I just never got more than a few lessons. I can drive a car just fine, it's just..."_

_"Look, Featherbrain-"_

_"Don't call me that!"_

_"-get back on."_

_"I- wait, what?"_

_"Like that. Yeah, no. Here, let me-" he rolled his eyes, placing his hands at hers, adjusting her position in a detached, almost clinical way, remembering what he'd done wrong when he'd first attempted to learn. "More like that, got it?"_

_He hadn't noticed that she'd stiffened from his touch until she glared at him._

_"What? You want me to teach you, I'll teach you. We've both got our own agendas. Don't worry," he added with a laugh, "you aren't one of mine!"_

_And she hadn't been. He hadn't even thought about it, then. She relaxed her glare, still disgruntled, and they continued._

_The rest of the session was spent mainly with him correcting her awkward posture and with both of them figuring out what little she did know. The next day, her own bike arrived - damn, but Misty was creepy with that thing of hers sometimes - and they continued with that, and Kiryu felt less worried knowing that if she crashed, it wouldn't be with his._

_Truth to tell, they didn't need to spend time together outside of their training sessions, but somehow that was exactly what they ended up doing._

_She stopped tensing up when he touched her soon enough, because she became used to his adjusting her posture. And most of the time, his eyes were on the bike, and on what she was doing with it, not on... other things._

_Which, admittedly, they sometimes were. He couldn't always keep his mind from wandering._

_When she slapped his hand away when it had been running up her leg at one of those times, he'd laughed it off, not thinking much of it other than that he'd have to control those impulses better._

_That she reminded him that she was Jack's, that Jack was the one that she was meant for, was like a splash of icy cold water._

_He'd lost the playful side. Turned to her, coldly._

_"Leave Jack out of this," he'd said. "Talk about him all you want to the others, but not around me, got that?"_

_She'd stared at him, as though uncertain, before nodding nervously, looking away._

_"Hn!"_

_He'd left her be, that day, storming off and slamming doors. It wasn't that she'd turned him down. It was because of the reminder of how it was always about them- Crow, Jack, Yuusei, JACK-_

_It left him in a foul mood, his god whispering reminders of revenge, reminiscing over his last battle with Yuusei, knowing that he would have the upper hand this time, because this time Yuusei would have been through the same hell that he'd been put through, and..._

_It went on and on._

_Until their next session._

_Focusing on teaching her kept the madness at bay, kept his temper under control. She didn't bring up Jack again, and he didn't push her._

_Without realising, he smiled, a genuine smile, when she got something right._

_"Hey, that's good! You're doing it!" He'd say, eyes black but shining. "Keep it up!"_

_She passed him by again, and she grinned in return._

_For a while... just a while, maybe, they could both forget._

_..._

AN: Just to clarify on the last bit- ironically, no, he was indeed respecting her boundaries. It just so happens that her 'I'm taken' pushed one of his _berserk buttons_. ANY of his old team right during that period of his life is a berserk button.

Also, you might remember that in the previous chapter Misty talked about 'safe zones'. Here, you get to see exactly what that meant.


	3. Chapter 3

_When they got back into the compound later that night, Misty would find them sitting at a table in a room they'd taken over as a sort of communal area, a chessboard between them and plate of sushi to one side._

_They didn't exactly need to eat, really, but it was a habit, and not one any of them had ever felt like kicking. Their bodies still digested the food, even if it did them no good. Taste was also an important factor. Why give up everything simply because you're dead?_

_They hadn't noticed her staring for the longest time. Carly had been thinking about her next move, and Kiryu himself had been watching her. Then the prickling at the base of his neck alerted him that they weren't alone, and he turned around - Misty had simply given them a long look, and found herself a seat in which to at first go through her deck yet again, and then read._

_Finally, she moved her piece - only for him to move in reaction, taking out one of her other, more powerful pieces._

_"E-ehh? How-?"_

_Kiryu grabbed a piece of sushi, and she scrunched up her nose at the topping in a way that had him grinning._

_"You focus too much on luck and chance," he said, waving the food around as he gestured with the same hand. "You should be thinking of the long game. See?"_

_He pointed out the pieces, and the way that he'd played them, explained that he'd set it up so that she'd be baited into going after that one piece, giving him an opening to her king. She pouted in response, but didn't hold it against him, instead interested in what he was saying._

_"It's like with this," he said with a now full mouth. He chewed, and swallowed. "I could've just left things between me and Yuusei until everything was ready. But Yuusei's a good duelist, I'll give him __**that**__ much. But now? Ha! Fear does things to you, and he's afraid of __**me**__. He won't be able to think straight at all!"_

_He said it all as though it were mere dinner conversation to be mentioned in passing, and none of the others found anything strange in it at all. Indeed, Carly was nodding._

_"Another game!"_

_The pieces were put back into their original places, and the game began anew._

_The next day, he led her on circuits, executing turns and bends that weren't as hard as she'd have to deal with later on while using her geoglyph as a track, but were good practice all the same. They came back in to rest still talking about posture, balance, and the many different ways that riding would be different while duelling._

_He was stopped by Rudger while going back to his room to change his shirt._

_"I trust that the lessons are paying off."_

_Kiryu crossed his arms. "She's a fast learner."_

_"She'd better be. We have three days. You had better use them wisely." Almost in response to the younger man's rolled eyes, Rudger narrowed his. "And how to ride a D-Wheel had better be the only thing you are teaching her, Kiryu-kun. We don't have time for distractions."_

_He couldn't help but laugh - was the man really saying what he thought he was saying? Because even if he'd wanted (and he had to admit, he was tempted), there'd never been any opportunity. And she'd never shown herself to be exactly __**open**__ to the idea!_

_He left, the tone of amusement and ever so slight disbelief satisfying Rudger enough to let him._

_..._

She shouldn't have been surprised that life went on far easier once she'd allowed herself to commit to the idea. Gone was the worry of what they might think, because Jack - and the others - only really wanted what was best for her, and because she'd said that she _wanted_ this, that she didn't feel like it was because she _should_ or anything, they were happy for her.

Of course, it only invited in further worries; how would she be able to afford everything? A baby was expensive! She'd need... oh, so much!

At the very least, she didn't have to worry about all that straight away, and wouldn't have to for another several months.

Still, it was a heady feeling, and one that pulled her back and forth between feeling like it was the best decision she could possibly have made and looking forward to the consequences, and then having sudden fears over whether there would be any complications, and would she be able to do well enough financially, and...

It was this that made her lose focus and almost bump into a familiar face while out shopping, although once she'd apologised she blinked, not having recognised him in the different environment.

"Y-Yuusei?"

Yuusei, also somewhat strangely dressed in a cold weather coat instead of his normal jacket, blinked at her.

"Aa. We needed some things, and since there was a job that needed urgent attention..."

He'd been saddled with shopping duty, she finished in her head, wincing slightly in sympathy. She could see it now - and Jack would cause either a commotion just by going out even this long after Fortune Cup, or he'd not do the shopping properly... she shook her head, attempting to hide a smile.

Yuusei, of course, would have been less likely to attract attention as well, given his lack of bright red hair and his single marker as opposed to Crow's three. Discrimination might be going down - and Carly was proud to say that she might have had a hand in that, writing several articles on the nature of Satellite, on Jack albeit with his permission, and on the events of the Signer war, putting them together in such a way that people would accept - but while people could be told to think in a certain way, it would take time for it to fully sink in.

Even now, there were some who noted a hint of orange on Yuusei's face, not being able to see much of the rest of him due to the bulky coat and the warm hat, and assumed, glancing his way warily every so often and watching their things.

It'd take time, that's all. Time.

Still. Things weren't bad.

"So," Yuusei was saying, "you're doing all right?"

She nodded, with a little of her usual enthusiasm that was only slightly dampened by the damp cold and her own distracting thoughts.

"Yeah! It's, it's kind of fun, sometimes! I mean, not all the time, just, it can be exciting, right?"

She hadn't meant it to sound like a worried question at the end there, but somehow that's how she feared it had turned out. But Yuusei just nodded.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, if it's what you really want," he said, smiling.

"Mn! And, ah... you? How's the...?"

"Aa. Not much luck, I'm afraid. We've got a direction, but that's not much help. Given there aren't as many people living out that way."

She sighed, and watched as he deliberated between one brand of instant coffee and another before making a decision and putting the jar into the basket along with the rest.

"But it's _something_ at least, right?"

"Exactly."

She shifted her grip on her basket, full of ingredients and fast foods alike, to stop it from digging into her arm when it started to get heavy.

"Hn... ne, Yuusei?"

"Mn?"

He rounded the corner down an aisle that she'd already been down, but she found herself following anyway.

"Could you... I mean... tell me about him? Just a bit?"

Despite herself, she found herself blushing, embarrassed that she had to ask, and unsure what he thought of the request. He turned to her with an unreadable expression which cleared a few moments later.

"Ah, of course... Jack mentioned that he'd been there with you during our first duel, but you must have forgotten that as well. Forgive me."

"No, no! It's all right! Just-"

Why did she think she could hear the sound of something loud, overpowering even the conversations around her? A beating sound...

_Aurgh_. Gone. Always, always _gone_. She was used to it by now, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

"I'd like to remember. And, sometimes it's like it's so close, but... I can never get it..."

"...Aa. I think I get what you mean..." He trailed off, looking into the distance and past the cans of soup in front of him. "When we first met him... looking back, I think the best word to describe him would be 'driven'."

"Ah, really?"

She gripped her basket a little tighter.

"Mm. Not in a bad way, though. Not then. He simply wasn't satisfied with what we had, and he had this drive to find a way to make what we did have, well," he smiled, as though finding something ironic, "satisfying."

Something about what he was saying struck her - as though she should recognise something, but it was just out of reach.

"Then... what went wrong? I-if you don't mind-!"

"It's fine." He shook his head, however, not meeting her eyes. "Even now, I sometimes wonder how it happened. But in the end... I think he went too far. Became paranoid, and went places that I... none of us... could follow. But I'd like to think," he continued with a more hopeful tone, "that even at his darkest time, he was still the same person I once knew underneath it all."

"Ah, right..."

Of course they had to hope. For Yuusei, he'd been a close friend back then, from what she'd gathered, and for her... well. The results spoke for themselves. She'd go through with it regardless, but... it was daunting, not knowing. Knowing that she had the answers, but couldn't get _at_ them.

"Mm... it's difficult to say, what he'd be like now."

"Mn, you mean because of the Dark Signer thing, right?"

Some might think her odd for being able to talk about it so lightly, but if she couldn't remember, all she felt was a slight bit of guilt at the realisation that maybe she shouldn't, and sometimes at the winces that the others would attempt to hide.

"I suppose."

Of course... of course there would be other things.

She sighed, and attempted to veer conversation back toward more cheerful topics.

...

Another sunset down, another duel won.

It was almost getting _boring_, the ease with which he took down everyone Marco's group sent out. At first, they'd had their bravado, and the idea that someone who wanted to die by coming to this town and signing up willingly couldn't possibly last too long. But now?

She'd noticed some of them begin to shake when they were told it would be them sent out that evening. They'd started to see it less as a mark of Marco's trust in them, and more as a sign that their leader was displeased. Instead of favouring them, it was their final warning. Their death row. _Fail me now,_ it said, _and you die._

Invariably, they all died. Or as good as, anyway.

If it weren't for how he was playing for the other team, Barbara would have long since attempted to cosy up to the boy, because after all, to be able to stay alive so long when everything about him screamed that he was a dead man walking, now _that_ was strength! But that very thing was also what put her off - there was no passion, no interest, and when he looked at her, it was more like he was either looking past her, or even through her. Even if he _had_ been working for Marco's group, that would have been no fun at all.

She watched, as they left, eyes narrowing.

_Boring_. It really was getting sort of boring, wasn't it?

Which was why she'd sent suggestions into the air when he was over in the shop the other day. Surely _someone _had to know a way to stop that handless combo... right?

It wasn't _her_ fault if he'd left the morning after. _Certainly_ not her fault if he was suddenly reminded of how weak he was in contrast to just one punk kid from Satellite.

Oh, she'd _heard_ of him. Him and his team. It was cute, in a way, she'd allow that. But she didn't like 'cute'. She liked _strong_.

And so she tried to stifle her giggles as she thought of how Lotten would come back, maybe teach them how to get rid of the white-haired cockroach they were starting to call 'Shinigami'.

...Except, that'd been _days_ ago. And they'd heard no word from him yet, and Barbara, if nothing else, never liked going in without some sort of backup plan of her own. Because seriously, allowing all of her gambles to ride on one person? Regardless of strength, that would be just plain foolish.

So... what now? Attempt to use those two kids he'd picked up against him? Oh, she knew about them. They might try and be quiet, but not much could escape her eyes in this town. But if she _did_ use them, then what? He might decide he'd had enough of being a dead man and fight back properly, which would only make him stronger yet, and harder to take down.

So if they couldn't use his only true weakness against him, and any of his old enemies that they'd tried to pit off against him gained no reaction at all, then where did that leave them...

Barbara clapped happily to herself, a small smirk betraying her intentions.

_If an old foe won't work, then how about an old __**friend**__..._

Oh, _that_ might work... she'd keep the idea in mind. Just in case.

For now, she locked the door after seeing her last customer out - flowers for a family shrine, how _sweet_ - and went upstairs to relax in a nice, hot bath, allowing herself to forget all about the problem of one undying duelist for just a while more.

...

"AH- OI, YUUSEI - YUUSEI!"

He wasn't being very professional, running down the road still in his uniform and grinning, waving a wad of papers at the short riding duelist. But with the news he had, he figured it could be excused just this once.

Yuusei turned around, though, noticeably moved by how excitable Ushio was being.

"Ah, Ushio, you... don't tell me..."

"Yup!" He waved the papers around further. "Progress! We made progress on finding that friend of yours! You're damn lucky, too, because if we hadn't known what to look for, we'd have just passed it over as idle talk!"

"Ah?"

"Mm, hm! White hair, criminal marker down the right side of his face, good at riding a D-Wheel - but it was his _play style_ that got attention."

"His... so Kiryu's _duelling_?!"

"Yeah." And this was where he got serious and lost some of that excitement, because oh, boy... "Some punk's been asking around, 'how'd you beat a technique like that', and not just only does that suggest he's not honourable enough to figure it out for himself and get stronger that way, but also? People've been saying he's tough enough as it is. Been working on some kind of project, too, but no news on that."

Yuusei nodded, now somewhat distracted by his own thoughts on the matter.

"Mn, that's fine. Have your people heard if he's mentioned anything else about this duelist?"

Ushio shrugged, although he could definitely see where Yuusei was coming from.

"Only really that he referred to this other guy with the handless strategy as a 'demon', but with duelists... that doesn't count for much."

"Aa, true..."

Yuusei's face flickered with something dark, and Ushio frowned, putting a hand on the shorter duelist's shoulder.

"Oi, we're gonna find him, got that? And bring him back. For that personal reason you've been keeping from us. Just trust us Security guys to do our jobs, okay?"

The kid's eyes widened, blinked, and then he looked away slightly with a smile - one Ushio wasn't entirely unfamiliar with, but wasn't sure what it meant outside of an actual duel.

"He's going to be a dad."

Ushio stared, not sure that he'd heard right, dropping his hand back to his side.

"Eh... what?"

"Aa. You heard me."

"Eh- bu- but that guy-!"

And what was with _going to be?_ Because there could _not _have been time for that kind of stuff, and he wasn't sure if he _wanted_ to know how it was supposed to work even if there _had_ been.

"I want to believe that regardless the deck he's using, no matter what happened back then, he still has the chance to become the person I once knew again." Yuusei shrugged, looking away, demeanour now awkward. "Carly said that it was all right to tell you, since you were heading the 'sort of official search'."

Ushio stared at him.

"You mean to say she's... but I thought she was, I mean, didn't Jack...?"

The words came out hesitantly. It wasn't really his place to say what other people were doing with their love lives, but this all seemed, well. _Odd_, for someone he knew for a fact had still been going on about how much she liked Jack Atlas up until a while back.

Then again, just how long _had_ it been since she'd gone on about Jack? He'd noticed that Mikage's old charge had been grumpy for a while, but he hadn't put that together with the reporter girl, and...

He just hoped that this didn't mean Mikage would try and take her chances with Jack now that something seemed to be happening with the guy's girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend.

"Mn. It seems that she forgot anything between herself and Kiryu just as much as she forgot everything between her and Jack, after and up to a point. It's part of why we're trying to find him. Because she doesn't even remember what he's like."

He had to wince at that.

"Can't have been easy, then. Finding out, I mean."

Yuusei's eyes narrowed in a distant frown.

"It wasn't. But she's doing well, despite that. Like I said before - she's keeping it."

Yuusei stared, as if in defiance against whatever he might bring up as an objection, and damn it it wasn't as though he _didn't _have any, but...

"Mn," he said at last, scratching his neck. He let his hand drop with a sigh. "Hope she knows what she's getting into. Even without the dad being a psychopath - no offense, Yuusei - a disappeared one can be just as bad, in some ways."

"...I know."

Ushio wasn't sure he did. Kid'd grown up on Satellite, and people were different there, for better or worse. Some things were more normal than others. Getting back to the rest of the world - well. People had _expectations_. The kind that the Satellite-dwellers didn't have. Usually.

Still, he was pretty damn sure Carly knew what people would think, and if she was still going along with it, well... that was her choice, then.

He just hoped they were all making the right ones.

...

Nico would clearly remember the first time that she could say that she and West were actually _afraid_ of Kiryu.

West had followed the man to where he hid his D-Wheel, and at first, he hadn't minded their presence as long as they didn't disturb him. Nico herself was perfectly happy busying herself with watching over West, and watching Kiryu himself, who was only really practicing and experimenting on his harmonica.

Things had seemed almost as though they were a normal family of sorts, whatever that meant. Just out, enjoying the sun.

And then West had started to inspect Kiryu's D-Wheel a little _too_ closely.

The first sign that something was wrong was when the melodic tunes began to fall flat at times, but at first she thought it was simple exhaustion. Then they slowed. West had found the screen, and managed to turn it on. Silence, she noticed. The harmonica was hanging limply from the man's hands, away from his mouth, his eyes wide with some emotion she hadn't seen from him before.

She opened her mouth to say something - tell her brother off, tell him he'd gone too far - but she was beaten to it.

Kiryu's hand was around West's wrist, her brother looking up in shock, the grip itself seeming far more tight and harsh than truly needed.

"Don't. Don't _ever_. Do that again. Do you understand me?"

West nodded frantically, and Kiryu lifted him away from the bike with both of his hands and put him back down closer to Nico. He still didn't release him yet, though.

"No, you _don't_. But you aren't going to anyway, are you?" He looked between them, from West to Nico and back again, and she found that her heart was racing, her hand at her mouth, as she nodded.

"I'm... we're sorry, Kiryu-niisan..."

The words seemed to spark something inside him and jerk him out of his mood, because he let go of West's wrist like it burned him, clutching at his hand like it was on fire or in pain.

"You... you aren't the ones who should be sorry. I don't know how you can still _call me that_."

"But, niichan, you..." West's voice was shaking, and it did indeed look like there was going to be a bruise there. But it would heal.

Kiryu, however...

"There are things... things on my D-Wheel. That I don't want anyone else to have to see. They're my demons. You guys shouldn't have to face them. That's... that's why I don't want you messing around with it. Got it?"

Kiryu was shaking. She couldn't see his face, hidden by the shadows of dusk and his hair, but his voice, too, was shaking.

She nodded, but had to know.

"But, niisan... why not just take it off? If- if it's a computer, you should be able to do that, right...?"

She didn't know much about computers, and West knew less. But she did know that.

Kiryu, however, was shaking his head.

"I need it there. It's my- my proof. That it shouldn't be so easy to just forget the past."

Nico bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, then. That we brought it up."

She had no response.

She held out her hand, and West put his smaller one in hers, looking up at his sister for reassurance that it was going to be okay.

Nico couldn't even say for sure either way. But she lead her brother away anyway - they both needed space.

Sometimes you just had to respect that a person's past was their own. It was one thing she'd learned, in this town, and quickly.

"It'll be fine," she said in the meantime to West. "You just pried too far, that's all."

"He's going to be able to duel tomorrow, right?"

She cracked a smile. "Of course!"

How could she believe otherwise? Kiryu was _always_ there at exactly sunset, playing that melody.

"We should get something cold on that," she fussed, not knowing where they'd be able to find such a thing unless it meant sneaking into one of the bars for the ice they used in their drinks. "If you'd wanted to see how it worked, you could have asked. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded too much, and this wouldn't have needed to have happened!"

They needn't have worried. A few hours later, ice somehow appeared just outside their door, but the person who'd left it there was nowhere to be found when they looked out to see.

...

Several hours later, he was leaning back against the bike, head in his hands.

He'd gone too far. He'd scared them. He'd wanted never to be that person again, and he'd-

He took a shaky breath. First one, then another, until the fear and pain gave way to a numbness that was both better, and worse.

He couldn't bring himself to delete the history stored away in his bike. Like the bike itself, it was a constant reminder of what had been.

Not just of his own past... but of things that only he remembered.

The first time he duelled her. Every training session, every practice match. He could forget about the _whys_, the _what fors_, if only because the memories themselves had been good, isolated from anything else.

How...

How could he treat that as though it was something he had the right to pretend never happened?

...

_It started with the little things. Things that, as he was, he didn't notice._

_She allowed his touch to linger, even when he didn't realise that he was doing so. The sway of her hips just when she must have known he was looking. The quirk of her mouth when she knew that he'd noticed._

_He didn't add it all up until it was too late, because he wanted them to be there, because nothing would have pleased him more than to just give in. To sink into the sensation._

_When had they started kissing? When had they ended up in his room, and why? In just a moment, all of the entirely reasonable explanations fizzled out to leave him breathless, hands in her hair as he breathed her in._

_This... this was what he'd wanted. This..._

_This..._

_He pushed her back. Away from him. Gasped. Leaned against the wall._

_"What- why?" She had to ask? Really? "I thought you wanted it..."_

_He turned back to her, eyes wide and still breathing heavily, clothes thankfully only rumpled and not removed, as he was sure might have happened had he not realised what was going on._

_"Who the hell are you trying to impress?"_

_"What...?"_

_"I'm teaching you all this stuff so you can duel JACK. You remember him, right?"_

_Carly hesitated, and he snorted._

_"Sure you do. And I bet I know what this was. Just trying to get to him through me, is it?"_

_"What? No! I-!"_

_"No. Never mind. I don't- I-"_

_He pushed past her, escaping the confines of his own rooms, and trying - failing - to forget how __**good**__ that had felt, while it had lasted. But it couldn't. _

_Rudger's words echoed in his mind - they had a job to do. They were going to destroy the Signers completely. Including Jack, and Yuusei... and they didn't have time for this. Even if... even if he __**wanted**__ there to be time._

_The next thing he knew, he was in the garage, and then on the 'track', making circuits and attempting to focus on the road - or what would be the road, in just a few days' time - but he kept remembering her._

_Her touch, her eyes, her smile, the way she laughed when she wasn't trying to put on a tough act for anyone._

_No good. It was no good. He grimaced, and went faster - only to find her there, matching his pace._

_"Duel me!" he heard over the audio link._

_"And if I win?"_

_She hadn't been able to beat him up until now. Always, he knew, she had seen him as an obstacle, and nothing more. Jack had been the end goal, and he, Kiryu, merely a distraction. Something that had cost her in every match, unable to focus on his moves._

_"If you win, then it shows that nothing's changed! But if I win," she said, revving the bike faster, overtaking him just slightly, "then it shows I'm capable of thinking of more than just Jack!"_

_At first he frowned, but then a smirk grew on his face, a smirk that bubbled into laughter. Maybe this'd be satisfying after all!_

_"Duel, then!"_

_The geoglyphs didn't appear - they wouldn't, when the gods themselves weren't in their decks, waiting for the right fight in order to appear. But they followed the course they were familiar with instead, turn against turn, speed against speed. He noted how her control was getting better and better, her focus needed less on her movements and more on the game. She held her cards with ease, and there were no emergency stops to pick up something dropped._

_He read her moves, like he'd done so many times before, but she saw his just as well. It was a constant banter of equal footing, despite her lack of a dark synchro._

_She __**saw**__ him. She saw... him._

_They rounded the last corner, and he saw her expression, just for a fleeting moment - smiling, no, grinning, enjoying the duel, right before she activated her trap._

_She won. Who knew what would have been the outcome if they'd had their gods on hand, but they hadn't, and the duel had ended with her win._

_Yet it made him... satisfied. And at the same time, hunger for more. She was good. Maybe, she could even do what she'd set out to do, and defeat Jack._

_They came to a stop back by the garage, where they got off laughing with each other, and he leaned his hand on her shoulder as they did so, almost forgetting the reason why the duel had been declared in the first place._

_Almost. But not quite._

_Not when her all-too-pleased smile caught him off guard, and she looked at his hand on her shoulder, she blushed, and rushed inside. Confused, he followed after... only to find her talking animatedly with Misty, who sent him a strange look._

_"I was just saying how far I've come! Haven't I been doing well, Kiryu?"_

_Caught off balance by the question after everything that had happened, he blinked. Then nodded._

_"Mn. She's going to win."_

_Misty looked between them, eyes narrowing, but he brushed past them both to find a comfortable chair after a long duel in the driving seat. Which would have been relaxing, if it hadn't been for how Carly then thought that it was big enough for two when really it wasn't, and started talking strategy, just like that._

_He fought to keep the heat from his face. Dark Signers weren't supposed to be hormonal, they were supposed to be dead. And they weren't, as far as he was concerned, supposed to blush. _

_Something that was coming far, far too easily recently._

_..._

AN: For anyone who still had lingering ideas from the first chapter that it was _possibly_ non-consensual? Look. HERE. Because one, _she's_ making advances, and two, _he pushes her away_. Notably because he doesn't want to be second best, but still. When the premise of the Dark Signers is that they're driven by some kind of _desire_ - lust/love, revenge, etc., it would have been entirely feasible for him to have just said 'sure' and gone with it.

Kiryu, however, had the opposing 'desire' to not be satisfied with less than he thought he deserved. And had been telling her exactly why she wasn't winning (not seeing him) which can actually be traced back manga-wise to the Y. Yugi vs. Mai duel in Duelist Kingdom. Yugi was losing until he began seeing his opponent as an opponent, rather than a stepping-stone.

Also, the image of Yuusei in a winter coat and hat is far too adorable. Save me.


End file.
